Did your vote count on Nov. 6?

Tuesday

Nov 13, 2012 at 3:15 AM

An Associated Press report published in Monday’s Foster’s Daily Democrat attempted to measure the strength of President Barack Obama’s turn-out-the-vote effort among college students on Election Day. In fact, it did much more.

As analyzed by Associated Press reporter Holly Ramer, students failed to show the president the same level of adoration this year as they did in 2008. For example, in Durham the president’s margin of victory slid from 74 percent to 69 percent — still an overwhelming majority.

But the significance of Ramer’s analysis is not in percentages. It rests in how many of these students were from out of state and how many voted in local races of specific importance to the Granite State residents — such as Congress, governor or state representatives. It is these races where students with little or no vested interests may have overridden votes by those who call New Hampshire home.

As Ramer writes, the value of such votes was not lost on the Obama campaign team.

From Ramer’s report: The campaign actively urged out-of-state students to register in New Hampshire, telling them that their vote “counts more” in a swing state. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Obama at the University of New Hampshire, telling students that Republicans were trying to take away their right to vote. “They’ve worked so hard to keep you from voting,” he said at a rally in October.

The editorial board here at Foster’s Daily Democrat will be interested to see when same-day registration numbers are tallied across the state — and analyzed to the extent possible — how many local races might have been tipped.

For example, Newmarket historically boasts an estimated transient college population of at least 1,000 if not more. There, state Rep. Adam Schroadter lost his seat by 8 votes (subject to a recount). An indication the UNH student vote may have made the direct difference in Newmarket and Republican Schroadter’s race can be seen in the heavy 2-1 voting up and down the ballot for Democrats.

At last count there were nearly two dozen races across the state to be recounted.

It is also worth taking into account another number from Ramer’s report: “Though it’s impossible to determine what kind of effect out-of-state college students have on elections, the impact is likely greater in New Hampshire, where out-of-staters make up a greater percentage of enrollment than in all but three other states. An analysis of total enrollment in the fall of 2011 showed just over 32,500 out-of-staters ...”

That’s 32,500 out-of-staters before Durham tallied more than 3,000 same-day registrations on Nov. 6. And what of Hanover, home of Dartmouth College; Plymouth, home of Plymouth State; and Keene, home of Keene State?

Unofficially (http://sos.nh.gov/), New Hampshire’s First Congressional District race was decided by a difference of 12,991 votes; the Second District, 5,298 — margins that might pale if those students voting for Obama continued to favor Democrats down the ballot.

During the run-up to Election Day, the Republican-led Legislature was criticized for passing a bill that required student voters to decide where they call home and to cast ballots there. Instead of tackling the issue head on, the N.H. Supreme Court deemed time was too short and put the law on hold until arguments can be heard at a later date.

The editorial board here at Foster’s Daily Democrat hopes that when that later date arrives the court gives serious consideration to those New Hampshire voters who may have been disenfranchised due to student voters who have little to no interest in New Hampshire once they get their diploma and head home.